Byrne warns of consequences of public mistrust of GMOs EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner David Byrne has issued a frank warning on the potential consequences of public mistrust of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) at a speech to the National press club in Washington DC, USA, on 9 October. Commissioner Byrne, in t... EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner David Byrne has issued a frank warning on the potential consequences of public mistrust of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) at a speech to the National press club in Washington DC, USA, on 9 October. Commissioner Byrne, in the USA on an official visit to clarify and discuss EU policy on food safety and genetically modified organisms (GMOs), said: 'Let me be very frank. Unless we can give EU consumers confidence in this new technology then GM is dead in Europe.' While he denied this grim forecast was a scare tactic, My Byrne added: 'Let me assure you that unless we put in place tough, yet fair, laws in Europe, the potential of biotechnology in the agri-food arena will be lost.' He said it was crucial to counter the 'irrational fear of GM food in the EU,' while highlighting at the same time that 'there are irrational fears on this side of the Atlantic about how we in Europe are proposing to address the issue.' He explained that European draft proposals for 'farm to fork' GM food and feed labelling are an essential part of EU democracy. He explained: 'Consumer information is now a right since the Amsterdam Treaty has become part of the constitutional arrangements of the EU. Consumer information must now be taken seriously. It is akin to providing a similar provision in the US constitution.' Mr Byrne also addressed the issue of the de facto moratorium on the approval of new GM products in the EU. 'It is my firm hope and intention that we can get the approvals process working again,' he said. 'I have mandated my officials to start a dialogue with the Member States of the European Union with a view to restarting approvals.' He said that a Member State meeting on 16 October would examine ways of resuming authorisations. The Commission recently confirmed that it intended to ask Member States to lift the de facto moratorium ahead of a new Directive on the deliberate release of GMOs into the environment, due to be implemented at the end of 2002.